Pivoting windows or other aperture closure members are well known and are widely used in walls or ceilings or roofs of buildings, inter alia. A locking mechanism arranged at an edge or end of the sash of a window or other aperture closure member is often used to prevent the sash from being opened unintentionally.
In various previous instances, as is described for example in EP1445403 and WO0196699, locking systems for windows, doors or the like, often included a movable locking member such as a pawl, a ratchet or the like, for cooperating with a striker plate, said striker plate having a recess, slot or the like for cooperating with the locking member in a locking position. To prevent break-ins etc., the locking member may often feature means for locking the locking member in relation to the striker plate, and said means, which may be a boss or an indentation, may have been designed to engage with a part of the striker plate. Other locking assemblies have also been described, as for example in WO03048487 or WO02053863 where a rotatable or swivellable handle has a locking member designed to pivotally engage a respective projection on a window frame or sash to lock the window in closed position.
Still further locking assemblies have included such as in WO04063498 which involves a lock assembly, especially for locking a window, a door or the like, comprising a base member, an operating member pivotally connected to the base member, a link member pivotally connected to the base member, a latch pivotally connected to both the link member and the operating member, said operating member being provided with a pivotable elongated handle bar having a first side facing the operating member. DK patent no. 168406 also discloses a lock assembly of the above type. A still further pivotable elongated handle bar lock actuating device is disclosed in EP0792991.
However, the designs of these or like prior lock mechanisms could be improved, particularly when it comes to ergonomics, and/or other effects on or undesirable results of manual manipulations in operation. Often, prior art designs require the application of substantial manual forces to engage and secure or even to release the respective locking mechanisms thereof, particularly in those window constructions which include a resiliently compressible, hermetically sealing gasket provided between the frame and the sash. Such gaskets can require large forces for manipulation and/or can create a jarring, thus often disagreeable release effect to the operator. It is hence an object of the invention to provide a lock assembly having improved functionality with respect to ergonomics and simplicity in use.